PARAGOGIC; PARAGOGICAL a.
Of, pertaining to, or constituting, a paragoge; added to the end of, or serving to lengthen, a word. Paragogic letters, in the Semitic languages, letters which are added to the ordinary forms of words, to express additional emphasis, or some change in the sense.
PARASANG n.
A Persian measure of length, which, according to Herodotus and Xenophon, was thirty stadia, or somewhat more than three and a half miles. The measure varied in different times and places, and, as now used, is estimated at from three and a half to four English miles.
PIANO; PIANOFORTE n.
ent somewhat resembling the harpsichord, and consisting of a sreies of wires of graduated length, thickness, and tension, struck by hammers moved by keys. Dumb piano. See Digitorium. -- Grand piano. See under Grand. -- Square piano, one with a horizontal frame and an oblong case. -- Upright piano, one with an uprigh…
PIPE n.
g. -- Pipe fitting, a piece, as a coupling, an elbow, a valve, etc., used for connecting lengths of pipe or as accessory to a pipe. -- Pipe office, an ancient office in the Court of Exchequer, in which the clerk of the pipe made out leases of crown lands, accounts of cheriffs, etc. [Eng.] -- Pipe tree (Bot.), the lil…
POLAR a.
ctos, maritimus) inhabiting the arctic regions. It sometimes measures nearly nine feet in length and weighs 1,600 pounds. It is partially amphibious, very powerful, and the most carnivorous of all the bears. The fur is white, tinged with yellow. Called also White bear. See Bear. -- Polar body, cell, or globule (Biol.)…
POLE n.
A measuring stick; also, a measure of length equal to 5 Bacon. Pole bean (Bot.), any kind of bean which is customarily trained on poles, as the scarlet runner or the Lima bean. -- Pole flounder (Zoöl.), a large deep-water flounder (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus), native of the northern coasts of Europe and America, and m…
POLYGON n.
forces (Mech.), a polygonal figure, the sides of which, taken successively, represent, in length and direction, several forces acting simultaneously upon one point, so that the side necessary to complete the figure represents the resultant of those forces. Cf. Parallelogram of forces, under Parallelogram.…